Mets Hang On To Beat Phils

In their ongoing bid to be crowned the most inconsistent team in Major League Baseball history, the Phillies followed up their feel-good 13-8 beat down of the Mets last night by losing to the same hapless team 5-4 this afternoon.

A ninth inning rally would put some pressure on the Mets, but the Phils couldn’t find a way to pull it out. The loss snapped a streak of seven straight wins for the Phils at Citi Field and was yet another chapter in Cole Hamels’ disappointing 2013 campaign.

HAMELS IS FLAT AGAIN

– Over his last three starts, Cole Hamels had posted a 1.57 ERA in 23.0 innings pitched. In his lone start at Citifield this season, he allowed one run over six innings while striking out eight. Against a dysfunctional Mets offense, there was reason for optimism with Hamels on the mound today. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell him that.

Hamels struggled right out of the gate, throwing a lot of balls and letting the Mets easily wipe out what was an early Phillies lead in the first inning. Some of it could be blamed on luck–a bloop single and fielder’s choice both produced runs in the first for the Mets–but much of it was on Hamels’ lack of control, and his inability to put hitters away. He would end the inning with 34 pitches thrown, and three runs allowed.

After the rocky first, he’d allow just one run over the next four innings before getting lifted. With a line of 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, it was another mediocre start for Hamels. No matter how you slice it, he’s had too many of those this year. In 21 starts , he’s failed to pitch beyond the sixth inning 13 times in 2013. That’s simply not acceptable for a high paid front of the rotation starter. Hamels has been a better pitcher by more than a half run after the All Star break over the course of his career, and he’d do well to find some of that second half magic, and fast.

OFFENSIVE HANGOVERS

– The Phillies got their first look at heralded Mets prospect, Zach Wheeler, and the returns were mixed. Jimmy Rollins greeted the rookie with a big fly just over the 375 sign in right center to lead off the game, the 45th time he has done so in his career. The homer was also the first for Rollins since May 31.

– For the next three innings, the Phillies wouldn’t score any runs, despite an abundance of baserunners. (Shocking, I know.) They did make Wheeler work quite a bit, and, in the fifth, they finally pushed another one across. The inning started with a single from Hamels, and he came around to score on a Chase Utley sac fly. With the bases loaded and two outs, Wheeler was lifted after throwing 106 pitches in just 4.2 innings. That brought in Gonzalez Germen to face Delmon Young at a crucial point in the game. Though Young was 2-for-2 to that point, he came up small, striking out to end the inning with the Phils trailing by one. They should have had more against Wheeler, but to his credit (and also to Germen’s credit), he limited the damage and held the lead.

– A two-out, two-run home run and double in the ninth by Utley and Domonic Brown, respectively, would make things interesting in the ninth. But Darin Ruf would line out to second to end the ballgame. It was really a story of missed opportunities with the offense today, as they left ten on base and went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

LEAKY BULLPEN PROVES COSTLY

– Jake Diekman allowed a run on a single by Daniel Murphy in the seventh after taking over for J.C. Ramirez. The run was charged to Ramirez, and it proved to be the deciding fact when the ninth inning rally fell just short. It will be overlooked, as today’s game was all about the offense’s failure to execute, but this is what a bullpen that can’t stop the scoring can do to a team.

UP NEXT

– The Phils will try to get a series victory tomorrow when they send Cliff Lee (10-3, 2.86) to mound against Matt Harvey (7-2, 2.35). If you love pitching, this is the game for you.

Bill Parcells said that about a team, not a player. Your statement shows an almost complete misunderstanding of what goes into a pitcher’s win-loss record. Lance Lynn has similar numbers across the board as Hamels this year, but he was 11-5 before today.

Let’s face it, Cole Hamels has lost his competitive edge. His big contract has made him complacent. I hope the Philadelphia Boo Birds really give this guy the business in the future. We need more from this Man-Child. He is a whimp. And a rich one at that.

Yea the same people bitched last year about Cliff lee. Now they love him. They loved Hamels last year and were happy the phils locked him up. Now he makes too much money. He’s not having a great year granted. But his record is not indicative as to how he’s pitched. He has earned at least 5-6 of those losses. So if he had any run support in the other six games they would be wins and he’d be 10-6 ! I know if the Queen had balls she’d be a king blah blah. I hate when he doesn’t pitch ace worthy but he’ll have much better years in the future. Get over it.

Dear God, what is wrong with you people when it comes to Cole Hamels???? He battled and lost today. It’s embarrassing to be a fan in this town. Questioning his WS performance now? Are you kidding me???

I questioned whether his MVP performance was an aberration because he certainly hasn’t returned to that form since then. When an athlete signs a huge contract and does not live up to the expectations from that contract (especially with a losing record and sub-par stats Hamels has chalked up this year) it certainly is fair to question his performance. Not just here in Philadelphia but everywhere. Ask yourself, has Hamels lived up to his contract thus far? Has Hamels thrown a shut down game when one has been needed? Perhaps we are looking at a Barry Zito like contract here.

Schmenkman well said. I simply wanted to point out the similarities in the two players, their contracts and their first year performances in those contracts, to-wit, Zito’s contract was once considered to be the worst in the majors. The tell-tale, as you point out, will be the 2014 season.

There was a time when the offense was floundering the pitching would carry us. When the pitching floundered the offense came through. Then again this is why you lose games and this is why we are at .500.

I feel that Cole has slipped this year. He lost his edge. His record shows this. He has great potential. And he is paid a boatload. As a paying fan, I have a right and obligation to demand a better performance from him. So do you..

Long time fan & lots of expectations – spewing is expected.
Its not psychobabble or character assassination, its frustration – nothing more.
But Bart, he is not a wimp and is probably beating himself each and every slip up.
He has never been consistently stable in his career as a matter of fact, looking at his past record I would project (here we go again) a much better return on investment next season…
“Wait until next year!”

The Phillies defense has been shaky. The defense was a lot better in 2009 and 2010 than it has been this year. Hamels had three great games in a row before this game. And, the Mets have been a very good offensive team lately that has good power from the right side. And, then they have a player like Satin who takes a lot of pitches and who has walked about 1 in every 5 plate appearances in his brief time with the Mets.

Mets have been hot this month. They have good power from their right-handed hitters. Marlon Byrd has just been on fire with an OPS of .931 in July. Eric Young has an OPS of .781 in July. Lagares has an OPS of .802 in July. John Buck has an OPS of .862 in July after a terrible May and June. Wright’s OPS is .900 in July which is close to his season OPS. They are hitting well now.

On the bright side, the Braves lost, we almost came back to tie it, we are getting into a hitting grove, and the one reliever, Luis Garcia, aka the barber, has been a good find so far. Of course, he’s probably destined to implode soon. Lol. Anyway, pitching duel tomorrow b/w Lee Harvey.

I believe the Phillies were 52-46 at this point in 2010. 88 games might be enough to win the division this year. The Braves are not without problems. The Nationals are in trouble too.

Regarding the wildcard, the Pirates are 3-7 in their last 10 games. Regarding the Reds winning, another team in wild-card contention, the Pirates lost.

On trade moves that could be made, Alex Rios really hurt his trade value on Friday when he didn’t run out a ground ball. He might be an improvement to the Phillies hitting on paper but you really can’t stomach a guy trotting down the line on DP groundball especially when there are so many things that can go wrong defensively on such a play. While his grandslam on Saturday might convince some of his value, the one thing that fans can’t tolerate is a player not willing to give 100%.

For the Phils to win the division with 88 wins, they’ll have to go 39-25 (61% winning pct.) while the Braves go 32-33. While it is not impossible, it seems like a long shot for one of those to happen, much less both. As a fan, we have nothing to do but hope that this scenario comes to fruition. However, unless those odds improve greatly in the next 10 days, I hope management takes a more realistic approach when they decide to buy, hold or sell. I don’t believe comparisons between the 2012-13 Phillies, who have played .500 ball over their last 260 games, and the 2010 Phillies are relevant. In 2010, the Phils had a healthy Halladay and added Oswalt for the stretch run plus they had a much more talented offense and a better defense than this group.

Yes the Pirates lost, which is unfortunate because it was to the Reds, but the Phils trail the Pirates by 10 in the loss column. It would have been much better for the Phils if the Pirates had taken the last two from the Reds, not the other way around.

I still think that the Phils should (and will) hold off on any decisions until after they return from Detroit, but if they don’t gain ground in the next 7 games, I’d hate to see them trade off any pieces of their future for a long-shot at best attempt to get into this year’s playoffs.

Kudos to Raul. He always kept himself in great shape and I’m glad to see that he’s prolonged his career and is still contributing a lot of power. That being said, he was effectively done as an NL player after he left the Phils – actually he was probably done as an NL player after 2009, but unfortunately the Phils did not realize it – as he went from being a below average OF when he signed here to a bad one to a horrific one fairly quickly.